True Stories

From: Peter Moffitt
Sent: December 20, 2016
To: Will Curry
Subject: XT vane

Hi Will

We have just returned from a 3,500 NM cruise from Sydney to Lizard Island in Far North Queensland (about 280 NM south of Cape York) and return to Sydney. This is our first cruise with our new Hydrovane and during its course I have fallen deeply in love with our Hydrovane ! It has steered us in ALL conditions, even the most demanding, and is beautifully SILENT !

You would be interested to know that I cut 90mm off the top of the XT vane to allow it to clear the obstruction by the corner of a solar panel on the radar arch (in its un-extended form). I removed this 90mm height from both the tubular frame and the nylon cover. You wouldn’t know the difference in the photo I previously sent you, and I have found that it works fine un-extended despite the slight shortening.

However I have one issue with the XT vane – no matter how tightly I screw the knob on the bottom of the movable part of the vane frame to hold it in an extended position, when it is fully tightened it still doesn’t grip to hold it extended. It was OK in the beginning but over time it has lost its grip. I’ve tried lubricating the thread with silicone grease to make sure that the thread tightens right up, but it still doesn’t quite grip. Do you have a fix for this please ?

[Editor’s note: First thought was the ‘olive’ went missing. Wasn’t that… Turned out to be that the olive was installed correctly, but where the olive bears against the male threaded part attached to the bottom of the aluminium tube, the aluminium tube was recessed slightly from the plastic male thread element. Added a coupling ]

Cheers from Peter

Peter Moffitt
Yacht PIXIE
Sydney, Australia

From: Mark Hibdon
Sent: November 30, 2016
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Rawson 30 Hydrovane Photos

I am very pleased with our new Hydrovane. We have had it out several times now in light conditions only, winds of 20kts or less, but it has worked great on all points of sail. Making course adjustments is super simple, I don’t even need to put down my coffee cup to do it. Here are a couple photos of the completed install.

From: Arpag Family
Sent: November 25, 2016
To: Sarah Curry
Subject: Batu – Spare Parts Order

Dear Sarah & Will,

I’m sorry we never made it up to Barkley last year to hang out with you guys as intended, but we were scrambling to get ready to go. We left our home in Hood River, OR in October, 2015. Since then we’ve put quite a few miles on our Hydrovane, heading down to mainland, MX, then puddle jumping through the islands, and now spending the cyclone season here in New Zealand. In general, our vane has been amazing – really a life saver. But, we are in need of some spare parts to keep things functioning well.

I’ve assembled what I believe are the necessary parts…

—

Regarding comments on the website, of course! We’re outspoken Hydrovane supporters and have already converted at least a couple boats. In this age of cheap, disposable gear, it’s an incredibly well-built piece of equipment!

From: Tony Maslin
Sent: November 19, 2016
To: John Curry
Subject: Hydrovane overhaul

Hi John

Our Hydrovane is our workhorse, either with a simple electronic tiller pilot or with the vane.

We are at 40,000 miles now and it’s still in pretty good shape, just a series of plastic washers are cracking up – please see photos – and I can’t find the part numbers.

Also, please will you advise about how slack the bottom bearing can come before I should replace that.

Thank you

Kind regards

Tony Maslin
S/V Tana Vika

From: Michel Tonino
Sent: September 11, 2016
To: Sarah Curry
Subject: Hydrovane on Winner 1120

Hi Sarah,

Here are some photos of our sailing yacht Syrinx, with the hydrovane. Our
yacht is a Winner 1120, dutch design.

We have tested it this summer on our trip from the Netherlands to UK london,
it was perfect!

Cheers

Michel Tonino

From: Martyn Morris
Sent: September 21, 2016
To: Will Curry ; Sarah Curry ; John Curry
Subject: Some feedback Allures 45

Here is a little video that says it all, I think.

This video was taken some months ago in Atlantic France, north of La Rochelle. We are now on the Costa del Sol in Spain and getting ready to winter the boat. We used the Hydrovane extensively across Biscay and down the length of Portugal. We have now stowed the main mechanism as have been doing coast hoping for the past month. I have made a little wooden cap for it and it is now a very useful step for getting off the boat in these Mediterranean marinas.

So in summary, very happy and it is brilliant on passage.

Regards

Martyn

From: Pete Goss
Sent: September 6, 2016
To: Diane Beveridge
Subject: Re: Hydrovane

Hi Diane,

We are back from a two month cruise with the new Hydrovane and thought you might like the following.

My wife, Tracey, and I have just completed a two month cruise with our new Hydrovane and it has performed beyond all expectations.

If cruising I wouldn’t go to sea without one: strong, simple, reliable, an emergency helm and an extra crew member who never complains and doesn’t need a watch system.

We encountered all weathers but it was a night sail in the Bay of Biscay with a force seven up the chuff and big seas that did it for me. We have a 34ft cruiser and the Hydrovane steered us through it all, we were surfing up to twelve knots. It kept us on course and was able to correct the consequence of random cross seas. I sat there with a cup of tea and slowly fell in love with something that is inanimate and yet gave us confidence and comfort.

Cheers Pete

Pete Goss MBE
wwww.petegoss.com

From: Neil Anderson
Sent: September 17, 2016
To: Will Curry
Subject: RE: Silver Lininig – Hydrovane – photo

Hi Will

Sorry about the delay in replying. I wanted to be able to use the vane before responding.

We have now sailed from Falmouth(UK) via Spain and Portugal to Lanzarote.

The vane has been used for a number of overnight passages and has been working well.

It would be absolutely perfect if it could also stand watches during the night!

I have attached some photos as well

Cheers Neil

From: Steve Gibson
Sent: September 16, 2016
To: Sarah Curry

Sarah,

Had steering gear torn apart on my vintage 35′ ketch and needed to pull the boat for repairs. Used my Hydrovane, with a 5′ length of 1-1/2″ PVC as a tiller handle, with minimum way on in order to maneuver through a tight channel with several turns, to haul out ramp. Great emergency rudder!

Regards,

Steven

Steven E. Gibson
Captain, U.S. Navy (retired)

From: Greg Lakes
Date: Aug 2, 2016
Subject: Parts
To: sarah AT hydrovane.com

Hey Sarah,

The crossing was good. I think I got pretty lucky. I even snuck across the equator at 4 knots on a close reach.

My Hydrovane was definitely my best friend and only crew. It performed perfectly, although I do have a bit too much weather helm.

…

My hydrovane is hands-down the best improvement I’ve made to my boat. And the after-sales service and the relationship with the staff is exceptional. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, you folks rock!

~~~~~

Thanks Greg!!

From: William Wickman
Subject: XT-Vane performance
Date: March 5, 2016
To: Hydrovane International Marine

Hi John, Hi Will,

We’re in Bonaire after completing the Atlantic crossing to St. Lucia and then the 450nm trip to this nice island. I thought you might be interested in my impressions of the XT-Vane which we used exclusively during the voyages other than when we were motoring.

I was very pleased! In any conditions in which we chose to sail the vane responded quite well. During most of this roughly 3500nm we had 15-20 knots from nearly astern and I used the vane only slightly extended and with the rudder set to the most sensitive and least powerful position (all the way left) and this worked very well, maybe better than the stubby or standard vane would have worked. In the really light air I extended the vane all the way if the wind was well aft and as far as I could without banging into the arch if we were a little off the wind. IMHO this was a big improvement over the past vanes. At no time did the vane fail to respond adequately to any winds in which we chose to sail. I would say that the vane was effective in relative winds down to five knots, maybe less. So I don’t know how much more powerful the XT vane really is but to me it seemed significantly better for our boat. We never had any winds forward of the beam so how it works going to weather I cannot say but I’d be surprised if there were any problems.

Give our blog a visit at: airstreamvoyages.blogspot.com and go back a couple posts and you’ll read about the Atlantic and Bonaire passages.

Hope you’re all doing very well.

Bill & Janet Wickman
SV Airstream

From: Steven Slater
Sent: August 04, 2016
To: Will@hydrovane.com
Subject: Advice

Hi Will

I purchased one of your Hydrovanes a couple of years ago and I think it is the best bit of kit I ever bought.

I have had a tiller made for the Hydrovane and I can fix my tiller pilot to it.

Am I correct in assuming that I can use this system to steer the boat whilst motoring, I am in the Med. at the moment so do a lot of motoring depending on where you want to go, there is a reason why galley slaves were popular here before motors!

[Editor’s note: Absolutely! It’s a great option for motoring or light airs]

Take care Steve (Lovely Edith)

How cool is it to receive an email like this! Photos pulled from the album.

From: Michael Burch
Sent: July 8, 2016
To: Sarah Curry
Subject: Yacht Ngaio

Hi,

How delightful to come across your website by accident! I had no idea that the Hydrovane was still being made.

I bought mine in England from Derek Daniels in 1986, and fitted it just to starboard of the boarding ladder on my yacht Ngaio (launched 16 July 1986 — thirty years ago next Saturday).

Ngaio is a Victor 40 which my wife and I built from a bare GRP hull and deck. The idea of a separate rudder and a self-steering gear which did not use the main steering gear was most attractive, and that’s why we chose it. In September 1986 we set off from Falmouth in SW England to sail around the world. We arrived in our native New Zealand in November 1987, ran out of money, got jobs, got a mortgage, built a house – and never left!

The Hydrovane (Horatio – the anglicised version of Horatius, he who kept the bridge in Macaulay’s poem: a lousy pun, but mine own…) steered all but about 100 of the 12,000 miles of that trip. The only fault it developed was that the spinnaker cloth covering the vane rotted out pretty quickly in the tropics, and I had to sew a replacement from ordinary sailcloth. The extra weight did not seem to make any difference.

Once back in NZ, I fitted the remote course-setting pulley and endless loop which I should have had from the start. I intended to convert it to an electric motor, but had not got around to doing so before selling the boat in 1996.

So it’s Hurrah for the Hydrovane! Give it my best wishes, and long may Derek’s brilliantly subtle invention continue to keep the adventurous on course.

Yours,

Mike Burch

From: Bill Hudson
Date: July 31, 2016
To: John Curry
Subject: James, our Hydrovane

Well, we made it to Trinidad from Namibia and our Hydrovane did it all for us – again.

We left Luederitz heading out for St. Helena with a great wind off the port stern quarter. About 20 knots. During the trip, we hoisted numerous different sail combinations, from a simple poled out genoa and main, to our spinnaker. The trip (1600 miles) was a piece of cake thanks to James (our Hydrovane).

From there we were off for Trinidad this time in 30 to 35 knot winds for weeks on end. Add in a beam sea hitting us repeatedly on the starboard side. The winds during the first three weeks were off the stern. Once we neared the coast of South America we stowed the genoa and pulled up the forestaysail and changed course heading northwest. Now we were getting slammed by waves on the beam, over and over. It still kept blowing at 30-35 knots and James just kept on working, 24 hours a day for days on end. We continually flew along making great time all the while James just kept doing what he does so well-steer the boat.

In the end, we covered the 3600 miles from St Helena to Trinidad in 32 days. Not bad for a boat weighing in at 23 ton. Who says wind vanes can’t steer a heavy boat even when it’s of set on the stern. Not us!!!

With out our Hydrovane, the trip would have been a whole lot harder. We only had to steer the boat when we left or entered each harbor. The rest, it was our Hydrovane that did the work.

As I’ve told other boaters, don’t leave a harbor with out a Hydrovane. Thanks for making a great piece of equipment. In the 40,000 miles we’ve covered, the only repair we’ve had to do was replace the pin that holds the rudder onto the steering shafts and it sheared off in 35 knot winds off the stern starboard quarter along time ago.

Bill and Tracy Hudson
SV Zephyr